After a few nights in the completely re-imagined 30°F Velocity, the staunchest down-snob testers were ready to ditch their feathers for PrimaLoft Sport’s surprising warmth and compressibility. This bag squishes as small as the proverbial bread loaf, thanks to the synthetic fill’s high-lofting, short-staple fibers.

“You know you have a compressible bag when someone sees it in its stuffsack and asks, ‘What’s that?’” a tester remarked. When a night camped lakeside in Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains dipped below freezing, a female tester stayed warm in the women’s version, which has extra insulation at the hips and feet.

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Another tester says of the men’s version, “The bag was roomy enough to roll over and fiddle with my iPod, and warm enough to fall deep into REM sleep.”

The silky interior is good for cooler nights, but in the heat of the summer, the polyester lining can get clammy and sticky. The Pertex Quantum shell easily repelled light moisture and kept items in the exterior stow pocket dry.

But the performance comes at a cost: The price tag is the among the highest in the class of 30°F synthetics. $189; 2 lbs. 6 oz.; 30°FRedesigned for Spring 2008